


The Moment to Lie

by darkesky



Series: Sickness at Garreg Mach [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Gen, Pre-Time Skip, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:41:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22105747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkesky/pseuds/darkesky
Summary: “I never thought you’d be the person falling asleep in class.” Hilda nudged Claude with her elbow.Claude blinked, disorientated. Then, he offered a smirk. “Had a late night, Hilda. I’m sure you know how that one goes.”“I’m sure it sounds like an excuse coming from you.” She can't imagine Claude with anyone but his own schemes in his chambers.Shaking his head, he pulled his paper closer to him. She studied the slow movements of his hand, the shaking of his fingers.He made a noise. “Admiring me? I never thought you’d be so bold about it.”“What can I say? You have the prettiest of eyes.” She batted her eyelashes. “If only you could keep them open. I wonder if I visited Dimitri if he’d be experiencing the same problem.”---Claude might be sick, but he'll be damned if he lets that slow him down.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Claude von Riegan, Hilda Valentine Goneril & Claude von Riegan
Series: Sickness at Garreg Mach [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1599064
Comments: 6
Kudos: 85





	The Moment to Lie

**Author's Note:**

> oh man I absolutely love the characters of three houses. The problem is... I don't have a switch haha. My brother does, and he's been playing it lately, but he's gonna leave soon, so there goes my chance of watching it. Good thing I still have YouTube! I'm not entirely sure if the characters are, well, in character, but I wanted to try and Claude and Hilda are like, lowkey, my favorites.

A savage heartbeat pounded behind his eyes, but he forced himself to focus on the letter splayed on his desk. He propped the envelope, ready to be resealed, against the book stack in the corner. No fingerprints can be left behind, and he can smear no ink. Manuela needed this back as soon as possible. While she may not notice it’s missing, she certainly will notice if it’s been tampered with… Unless, of course, he’s  _ careful. _

Careful was Claude’s middle name.

Getting the letter from Manuela proved more difficult than anticipated. After studying her patterns when he first arrived at Garreg Mach, he learned of her almost nightly conquests. He assumed she’d leave her classroom unguarded as usual. The last thing he expected was for Dimitri to be lingering in the Blue Lions classroom (the one Manuela happened to be teaching that week).

However, out of the three house leaders, he knew he could talk circles around Dimitri. He pushed open the door and strode in, startling the other boy. Dimitri stared at him for a long time. The whole time, Claude threw out riddles and flirts until Dimitri clearly didn’t know what was going on. 

At some point, he hopped up on the teacher’s desk and swept the letter into his coat. He did it in between a joke and Dimitri’s startled laugh. With a sly smile, Claude stayed five more minutes before sneaking back to his room. They spent too much time messing around; he knew he wouldn’t have the opportunity to sleep that night.

En route, he almost encountered Byleth and Manuela. The two women were walking, a little too close for a simple  _ friendship.  _ Before he could process the information, Byleth stared deeply into the shadows as if searching for him. Recognition never filled her eyes. Manuela tugged on her arm and offered what he could only refer to as  _ bedroom eyes. _

The second he got back to his room, he got to work on the letter. As he transcribed it into his own messy code, his hand kept shaking from how cold he was. He bit down on his tongue and tried to banish the shivering. Logically, he knew there was no way the temperature dropped so low in Garreg Mach. It was the place of  _ kings and emperors.  _ They probably had mages there specifically to light the fires. No nobles should protest or worry their pretty little heads.

Evidently, some sickness was surfacing within Garreg Mach. A few of the knights had gotten it, and Alois needed Manuela to prepare the infirmary. At the bottom, he noted ‘avoiding the incident two years back.’ 

Since Claude didn’t attend the monastery two years back, he’ll need to start asking around. Last year, nobody seemed to get all that sick. Healing magic struggled to confront colds or illnesses. Most of the time, it was reserved for injuries—he personally held the opinion that there must be a different kind of healing magic. Since Claude can’t even produce the basics of healing magic, though, he wouldn’t be able to experiment with his theory.

Maybe he can prod the information out of Hilda; Hilda notices more than she pretends. Or he could find a way to confront Dimitri. Most of the time, when he got him alone, Dimitri spilled whatever information he needed. But he often found time with Dimitri at the same time Edelgard insisted they spent time together… And he’d be daft to think  _ Edelgard  _ wouldn’t pick up on his subtle plays.

When he stood up, the world spun for a second. He threw out a hand and caught himself on the corner of his desk. Swallowing the dryness in his mouth, Claude picked his way over to his coat. Slinging it over his shoulders and binding it tightly, he tried to ignore the chill still racing through the air to sting at him. His hands trembled, and they looked a little too pale. He could only imagine the color of his face, but it was subtle enough someone would need to know him well to pick up on it. 

He had no way to skip class today, even if he felt like shit. Byleth taught his house today, and she already suspected him for the close call earlier in the day. And Dimitri would suspect something went awry with their meeting. And if a sickness truly was spreading, it didn’t matter if Claude already caught it. He needed to prove he wouldn’t be done in by some sniffles and some chills.

Slipping the letter into his pocket, he took a deep breath to steel himself. After his classes, he imagined he’d have the time to deliver it.

-

“I never thought you’d be the person falling asleep in class.” Hilda nudged Claude with her elbow, ignoring the textbook open between the two of them. Byleth decided the best course of action was,  _ clearly,  _ teaching both of them flying. Considering Hilda wielded an  _ axe  _ and Claude shot with a bow, she couldn’t imagine why either of them would find a flying mount. 

Claude blinked, disorientated. Then, he offered a smirk. “Had a late night, Hilda. I’m sure you know how that one goes.”

“I’m sure it sounds like an excuse coming from you.” She ran a finger over the diagram of a wyvern. The last time they studied together, he kept ogling the beast. She wouldn’t be surprised if he found his own way to ride one; he  _ wanted  _ to be on a wyvern, shooting his bow. 

Shaking his head, he pulled his paper closer to him. She studied the slow movements of his hand, the shaking of his fingers. He made a noise. “Admiring me? I never thought you’d be so bold about it.”

“What can I say? You have the prettiest of eyes.” She batted her eyelashes. “If only you could keep them open. I wonder if I visited Dimitri if he’d be experiencing the same problem.”

“I doubt it.” Claude trained his eyes on the image, but his head already started to droop. His hand traced idly over the sheet of paper and failed to take the same neat notes as usual. Actually, he didn’t even appear to be writing in his code… Then again, she doubted he was doing much more than normal note taking. 

Hilda twirled a strand of her hair around her finger idly. “You sure?”

“You’re in a chatty mood,” he noted. 

“I’m always chatty. Usually, you can keep up with me.” She sat back in her chair and started scanning the classroom. Exactly  _ who  _ was Claude trying to fool right now? Everyone else appeared busy doing their actual work. Byleth sat at her desk, reading some book about fishing. Hilda wrinkled her nose. The idea of getting dirty just to  _ fish  _ seemed useless. She hated cooking on the best of days, and she tried to avoid that duty as much as she could. Some of the Blue Lions enjoyed it, so she forced them into that responsibility.

She avoided the Black Eagles with a passion though. Claude usually did the same; while he attempted to create some sort of alliance with Edelgard, her house simply…  _ Unsettled  _ Hilda. The second-in-command happened to be a vampire after all. And the goals Edelgard put forth… Hilda never would have put any of those on her list. When all of them were vying for recruits, she took one look at the Golden Deer and knew this is where she would find a home. 

And besides, they don’t even have a second-in-command. Truly, it was the best system they could have gotten. Claude didn’t need help reigning in the others; the others didn’t even want to be reigned in. With the exception of Lorenz, all of them would follow Claude into battle without any hesitation. 

Chancing a glance at Claude, a smile played on her lips. She knew, given enough time, he’d fall asleep. She slipped out of her seat and headed towards Marianne. The other girl startled and blinked. “Oh, hi, Hilda…”

“I think I’m gonna have to pass on the tea party today.” She plopped down in the seat next to Marianne. Byleth looked up from her book long enough to lift an eyebrow. Hilda offered her most endearing smile back. Usually, on Fridays, Byleth offered a free day to them since the afternoon detailed a mock battle between the three houses. 

A blush flooded the other girl’s cheeks, and she ducked her head. “Oh, it’s okay.”

“Not really, but I have a responsibility to deal with.” She casually tilted her head back to her usual seat. Wrinkling her nose, Marianne glanced over Hilda’s shoulders. Her eyes grew wide when she caught sight of Claude. “Can you do me a favor? I don’t know how we’ll be able to do this subtly, because Claude would kill me if it’s not subtle, but can you check if he’s catching something? I know he doesn’t have any injuries, but I don’t want to deal with his moping if he’s sick.”

“Sick?” Marianne shifted. “Doesn’t that mean…?”

“That everyone is going to get sick now because he’s a stubborn dumbass? Probably. The real question is if the other houses will go down before ours. I’m sure some of them are already getting sick.” When Garreg Mach got sick,  _ everyone  _ went down—well, most of the time. Hilda rarely got sick, and she knew some of the others carried the same resistance. None of them existed in her house though.

Nodding slightly, Marianne pushed a textbook into her arms and got to her feet. As she walked over to the professor, her hand flitted out and felt along Claude’s. She winced and continued onwards. 

As Claude blearily raised his head, she slid back into the seat next to him. He coughed and raised an eyebrow. “Where did you disappear to?”

“While you took your little nap? I went to talk to Marianne.” She offered her best smile.

A dull spark of intrigue entered Claude’s eyes, and he forced himself to sit upright. Hilda resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He’d be better off taking a nap. She exchanged eye contact with Marianne over his shoulder, and she nodded slightly. It wasn’t the…  _ In depth  _ checkup she wanted, but it was enough to determine he was sick. “So… You and Marianne? Should we start pairing you two up on the battlefield?”

“Perhaps.” Hilda leaned back in her chair, faking casualness. “But if we’re going based on who thinks I’m cute, you might as well leave us in one big group.”

“That’s true.” Claude hummed. “Lorenz seems to be very intrigued by you.”

She raised a finger. “I have an axe and I’m not afraid to use it.”

“I’m going to lead the Alliance one day. Killing me is a death sentence,” he reminded her flippantly.

She glowered. “It’s worth it.”

-

Judging by the puddle of drool left behind in the textbook, he knew he must’ve fallen asleep at some point. He didn’t remember much of the class; it passed in a blur, and he almost toppled out of his chair numerous times. Every time, though, he felt Hilda prod him with her elbow and then feign innocence.

“Aren’t you going to eat with Marianne?” he whispered in her ear. He ignored the needles threading each word; even if he was getting sick, he reminded himself, he didn’t get the opportunity to show it. He  _ needed  _ to win the mock battle tonight.

Hilda shrugged, grabbing two trays. When he raised an eyebrow, she offered a saccharine smile. “You don’t look like you’re very hungry today.”

“You’re eating with me because you want  _ my  _ food?” It seemed like an… Odd request from her. While he could anticipate that reaction from Raphael (or not, Raphael hated when any of them skimped on eating. He  _ insisted,  _ in fact, they got their fill before he started picking away at their food), Hilda thought eating too much looked a little too piggish. Since half of her schemes came from looking dainty and delicate, she tried to reflect that in every part of her life.

She nodded. “What can I say? I’m already getting exhausted thinking of today… Did you know they decided on capture the flag? We’re going to be competing and fighting to  _ capture a flag.” _

“Who’s defense?” They only played this once before, and Black Eagles were in charge of keeping the flag safe. The Golden Deer and the Blue Lions teamed up without a second thought. While the Blue Lions took the initial charge, distracting the Black Eagles, he sent his Golden Deer to sneak around the back. They managed to get the flag without  _ too  _ many injuries which needed to be healed up.

He needed to do some archery training with Bernadetta. Her aim was  _ scary,  _ and she managed to lodge an arrow straight through his shoulder. Beyond that, he knew next to nothing about her. While he received the basic information about her house, he never got a  _ one-on-one  _ conversation with her—

Hilda nudged him sharply, and he blinked. “What?”

“Are you even listening to me? I’m not talking to hear the sound of my own voice,” she huffed. Nonetheless, she used her shoulder to nudge him to where he usually sat with the other house leaders and their retainers. While every other person in their houses kept contained to just that, Edelgard suggested the three of them ate together. Claude suspected this served more as a pissing contest than anything else, but he figured he might as well attempt to keep the peace between Dimitri and Edelgard.

As they sat down, Edelgard interrupted her quiet conversation with Hubert. “Hilda? You don’t usually join us for meals?”

“Are you uninviting my dear friend, Your Highness?” Claude drawled as he patted the seat next to him. She slid one of the trays over to him and gave Edelgard puppy-dog eyes. It’s to Hilda’s credit Edelgard looked away first, a blush starting to dart her cheeks. Very few people treated her so flippantly (and he took  _ great pride  _ in the fact they all came from his house. If only Lorenz wasn’t such a kissass…).

“You would do well,” Hubert started, “to treat my Lady Edelgard with a greater respect. She is, in fact, of a higher station than your own and elevated in most other regards as well—”

“Aw, Hubby, did we strike a nerve?” Claude crowed. Then, he twisted to make eye contact with Edelgard. Ignoring the nauseous growing in his stomach from the relatively quick movements, he pouted. “You didn’t tell me how close you and Hubby were getting!”

“Claude, enough with this nonsense.” Edelgard, however, reached out a hand to rest on Hubert’s elbow. “My dear Hubert, don’t let him provoke like this. He takes great pleasure in unnerving everyone. It’s part of his schemes.”

“Once a snake, always a snake,” Hubert growled.

Placing a hand over his heart, he gasped (and ignored the stinging in his throat which almost made him cough and give up the illusion of health). “I’ll have you know, Hubert, I’m a  _ deer.  _ It’s, like, right there in the name.”

“I’m pleased you could join us for lunch,” Dimitri blurted, desperate to preserve the peace. “I fear I don’t receive many opportunities to speak with members of the other houses, and I’d like to remedy that.”

“As long as you don’t start recruitments.” Claude winked.

Hilda gave him a side eye before leaning forward, attempting to look as flirty as possible to Dimitri. “I mean, if such a  _ charming prince  _ made me a generous offer, I doubt it would take much to sway me to the other side.”

“You wound me, Hilda.” 

“Sorry,” she deadpanned. 

For a second, Hubert’s eyes just scanned them. He knew this level of  _ casualness  _ didn’t come easily to the other two. Both kept a painfully professional distance from the members of their house. Claude couldn’t imagine not trying to seek out as much details as possible from the ones he trusted to have his back on the battlefield. He didn’t seek out blind loyalty (and he imagined the others didn’t as well); he wanted to earn their loyalty in small ways and then all at once. 

Dimitri looked away. “Tell us about yourself, Hilda.”

“Oh, don’t get her started, it’s her favorite topic,” he teased.

She made a face before launching into a conversation. Claude allowed himself to lapse into silence and let her dominate, only adding every once and awhile. It allowed him a nice break since his throat started to ache something fierce; he needed to break into the infirmary and grab some of the medicine, but with his current slowness, he couldn’t imagine he would pull it off well. 

Maybe he got himself injured in battle today…

_ (And if Claude had to retreat to the bathrooms and puke up his meagre lunch later? That certainly didn’t need to be addressed in any capacity.) _

-

“In the best interests for all the House leaders, you three will be in charge of your own tactics today. If that means joining forces or something else, it matters not,” Hanneman announced. The three instructors had dragged three chairs into the woods, content to just sit back and let the students do their own things. Seteth didn’t want to participate in such  _ trivial games  _ and went to help Rhea.

Edelgard cleared her throat. “And what are the stakes today?”

“Whoever wins will get the instruction of Byleth over their class that week. Second place will get Manuela’s help, and third place will get mine.” Hanneman made a face, obviously not pleased with the idea of being the  _ last place  _ gift. Hilda tried to resist laughing, and she coughed into her hand. 

Claude swayed beside her, only supported by the arm he threw around her shoulders as a joke earlier in the day. Still, never one to miss an opportunity to mock one of the professors, he snorted out a laugh. The two of them exchanged eye contact and smiled widely. They would  _ not  _ be getting last place. Even Manuela would be better than Hanneman’s boring classes.

Dimitri nodded. “And who is on the defense this time around?”

“The Golden Deer.” Byleth made eye contact with Hilda and gestured the two of them closer. “So, come. I’ll show you the current location of the flag for you to defend.”

“No peeking,” Claude called casually, unwrapping his arm from her shoulders and following after their usual professor. What can Hilda say? They usually won the challenges because Edelgard and Dimitri always lapsed into some sort of fight; the two of them needed therapy. In fact, give  _ all  _ of the Blue Lions therapy.

As they trod after their professor dutifully, Claude cleared his throat. “Lysithea, do me a favor and burn the tree on the opposite side of the clearing.”

“What? Why?” she spluttered.

He gave Byleth a look. “Is it a legal move, Teach?”

“It’s war,” Byleth curtly said.

Claude nodded and gestured for Lysithea. When she hesitated again, he sighed (which might have been a cough, but Hilda politely pretended she didn’t notice). “They’re  _ totally  _ peeking. A burning tree will distract them long enough for us to really disappear.”

“Oh. Okay.” Lysithea gestured for Raphael to pick her up, and in his arms, she threw one of the trees into ablaze. Byleth took the cue and started racing forward, and all of them followed dutifully, making their footsteps as light as they could possibly manage. None of them wore heavy armor yet; they might plan to in the future, but Claude opposed the use right now. It affected the strength of his plans. 

Hilda grabbed Claude’s arm and prodded him forward, ignoring his stumbling. She hissed out her complaint. “You’re such a dumbass.”

“But we’re going to win,” he wheezed. “Worth it.”

As they reached the new clearing after a few minutes of running, Byleth pulled a flag out of her pocket. “There you go. Place it wherever you want; there are no restrictions.” 

“It’s yellow…” noted Claude. “That’s… That’s difficult to hide—” 

“We’re better at offense,” muttered Leonie.

Hilda paused, the gears in her head turning. Since Claude functioned about halfway today, she could do the rest (though she hated the work). She was decent at her own schemes. “So… Let’s go offensive.”

“What are you plannin’?” Claude asked.

Spinning, she glanced around the clearing as a smile started to stretch across her face. Then, she paused and pointed at Claude. “I’m going to need your cloak, and we’re going to need to split up three ways.”

“You’re in charge,” Claude said and quickly shut down the argument boiling to the tip of Lorenz’ mouth.

-

Hoping down from the bottom of the tree, Hilda wiped the sweat off her brow and scowled. “I never should have volunteered for this team.”

“It was the only good way.” Claude sat against the tree, rolling an arrow between his fingers. He started swaying much too much a few moments earlier, and she forced him to sit down. Claude tried his best to ignore her blatant concern; he should have known better than to underestimate Hilda.

But Leonie, Raphael, and Lysithea went north. And Lorenz, Ignatz, and Marianne went south. They figured the other two team captains would send someone on either side. They expected an ambush; in fact, they picked on the best spots to get ambushed. They just needed to protect the flag for a measly hour. For the fake explanation on why only an hour, Manuela said ‘reinforcements would arrive then,’ and they already had some of the time taken care of. That isn’t to say they should take the secretive approach.

If they wiped out the other teams, they would end the activity that much faster. He just wanted to curl up under his sheets, ignore the phantom chill racing through his bones, and down some stolen medicine. He already convinced Marianne to fork over some of hers since she always had a stash. 

He coughed into his arm and groaned, leaning his head back against the tree trunk. “It’s a solid strategy, Hilda.”

“Of course it is… I thought of it.” Hilda laughed and ran her fingers through her messy hair. Then, she plucked her axe up from where she hid it. “How long would you give it until they find us?”

“We picked a decent spot, strategically…” He hummed and winced. Bad move. “Ten minutes—”

“Then you can nap for ten minutes because, honestly, you’re exhausting me, and I’m just looking at you.” She sank down next to him and grabbed his bow. He gave her a long look; Hilda had no idea how to wield it well, but she ignored his obvious disbelief. Then, she tugged on the torn remains of his cloak and tied it around her shoulders. “I’ll be Claude today, okay? So stop being a brat about it. I’ve done a pretty good job pretending to be you today.”

“I wasn’t aware you’re pretending to be me.” Still, he sunk into her side and rested his head against her shoulder. “Don’t murder me, please.”

“Oh, please, don’t you trust yourself?” she laughed to herself, and that’s the sound he fell asleep to.

-

“Are you truly that cocky you’ll win?” Felix stalked forward, and Claude blinked the sleep out of his eyes. He glanced at Hilda, trying to get a gauge of the time. She smiled and nodded. Okay then. Ten minutes, almost exactly. He was a little surprised Felix found them first considering Felix would have launched himself into combat right away. Unless he somehow missed both of the other teams… No, that couldn’t be it.

He snatched the bow out of Hilda’s lap and notched an arrow. His vision blurred, but Claude closed his eyes and sent it flying anyway. It didn’t need to hit; it just needed to prove he knew this particular scheme.

It dug into a tree, and he heard a muttered curse. Claude grinned. “Sylvain?”

“And only two of you guarding the flag…” Felix paused and started looking around. They did a fairly good job hiding the flag… Though, once again, it wasn’t his intention for it to stay out of sight, out of mind. There was a reason he only sent Hilda up so high before having her stop. If Sylvain and Felix found them, he can only imagine Ingrid was hiding somewhere in the shadows as well, and Ingrid learned how to fly a pegasus fairly well. He wouldn’t be shocked if she had whistled and the pegasus appeared for her. “I can’t tell if you truly think this plan will work.”

“Guess you’ll have to find out.” He nestled farther back into the tree, and Hilda stepped forward, her axe swinging around. Sylvain gave up on trying to hide in the shadows. Claude picked up his bow again and immediately shot an arrow towards the redhead. God knows Sylvain learned how to be fast first and effective second, and that might really put a damper on the games today.

Then again, if he timed this right with Hilda, they’ll get reinforcements of their own soon enough. 

Sylvain dodged an arrow easily. “Not on the top of your game, are you, Claude?”

“What can I say? I’m just that cocky.” His gaze slid over to Felix, and he winked before returning to his game of just throwing as many arrows as possible as Sylvain. He fired them randomly, just trying to keep Sylvain from advancing. He knew it wasn’t the most… Tactically sound strategy, but he also knew he needed to do so in order to not lose this entire fight. They needed to be believable even if they lost. 

The sound of Hilda’s axe hitting Felix’s sword rang out, and Claude flinched. It was just a tad too loud today, but then again, everything was almost too loud. He dropped the arrow he almost launched and replaced it just as fast. With his vision turning black around the edges, he doesn’t have the time nor the effort needed to fish it out. He’ll be shooting blind until he truly passed out… At that point, he could hope Hilda managed to dispatch Felix, who always fought leagues better than most of the swordsmen. 

And Ingrid hadn’t even made her appearance yet. She probably was trying to find a way to subtly climb the tree and get the flag. He smirked and fired another arrow completely blindly. His fingers were vibrating and turning numb fast, but he blinked away any of the panic building there. If he just held on for a little long and didn’t give into his sickness, he’d be able to go. At this point, though, even holding the bow up proved to be a little too much for him. 

Then, footsteps thundered in the distance, and he smiled.

“Claude! I’m back…” Lysithea stumbled in the opening of the clearing. Taking in the fight, a deadly smile flashed across her face. “Oh, I see why you wanted me to come back to help defend the flag.”

-

“I don’t enjoy doing extra work,” Hilda said after a second. She swept her hand over his desk, pushing all of the papers to the side. She can imagine the noise he’d make in protest, and she let out a small laugh. “It’s not like you’d be able to do anything good right now. You  _ passed out  _ in training.”

When she turned around to face him, she’s met with the steady rise and fall of his chest. That made for all the conversation he could make. While he woke up shortly after passing out, he drifted in and out of consciousness enough to freak the two girls out. But he insisted he didn’t go to the infirmary, so she gave him some of that drowsy medicine when he woke up for real to help speed this along. Now, he’s passed out in a different way.

“You’ll be happy to know we won. They fell for my scheme, just so you know. When I said I wanted to string a piece of your cloak in the tree like the flag, you said they were too smart. But they fell for it.” She smiled to herself. “The real hiding spot of the flag went unnoticed. I can’t wait to gloat to your stupid face when you wake up for real. Hopefully, you’re a little less feverish. Otherwise, I’m getting the professor.”

Humming to herself in the absence of conversation, Hilda sorted through some of his papers. Sure enough, he coded every single one of them, and she never once made the attempt to decode them. When he created these, he never made a guide. The method existed purely in his head, and she wasn’t interested in bullying it out of him. 

“By the way, both Edelgard and Dimitri want to speak to you when you wake up. I think they’re upset about the way it went down.” Hilda remembered the look of utter disbelief of Dimitri’s face when Ingrid managed to get the ‘flag’ down from the tree. He ripped it in half after realizing it was only a shred of Claude’s broken cloak, and the three of them took the opportunity to use Lysithea’s newfound warp ability. They had several of the fake flags planted in lieu of another plan.

The actual flag was stretched thin and woven into her belt, hidden by the thick material. And since nobody ever thought to look there, it was easy enough to win, though she supposed if they captured her, they could have won.

Hopping up, she sat on the uncluttered corner of his desk. “You’re going to have to take a page from my book. Skipping classes, skipping chores, skipping  _ responsibilities…” _

She sobered. “But first, you gotta feel better.”

**Author's Note:**

> I might expand this into like a series of one-shots of various students getting sick? Because once someone gets sick at Garreg Mach, EVERYONE gets sick at Garreg Mach. Tell me what you think in the comments :)


End file.
